FACE IT, FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK. I feel like it has become a new marker in our society, BF ( before FACEBOOK) and AF ( after FACEBOOK). BF we relied on email, phone calls, and in person conversations to stay connected, and now, we don’t. AF we can now stay connected with hundreds, if not thousands of people by just parking ourselves in front of our MAC. You might think that is a good thing, a bad thing, or a mix of the two but the point is it exists and personally, I love it. It has been and will continue to be a game changer.

In case you have your head in the sand you know that FACEBOOK is soon to go public. They will raise billions of dollars to expand their control of the universe and will be doing so with a board composed exclusively of white men. This is despite the fact that women make up the majority of FACEBOOK users and account for 62% of the content produced on the site.

Today, the FACE IT campaign was launched in response to Facebook’s all-white, all-male board representation. The FACE IT campaign, which has been endorsed by well known organizations such as 85 Broads, 2020 Women on Boards, Women Corporate Directors, and The 30% Coalition ( which I am a part of), stated in their press release that they will, “call attention to the failure of Facebook’s all-male board to represent the company’s diverse public and its own corporate mission.” (which is stated on their website as, “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”)

In case they don’t think it is just the RIGHT THING TO DO research conducted by Catalyst found that for the return on equity for companies with at least three or more women board directors outperform those with none by 46%, for Return on Invested Capital it’s 60%, and for Return on Sales it’s 84%. As a future shareholder you should want diversity on the board as it is likely to prove good for the stock price. But do we really need to make the business case for it?

The FACE IT campaign intends to use Facebook to “spark meaningful change in corporate America- starting with Facebook itself.” According to TechCrunch women’s representation on corporate boards is dismal. “While women comprise 51% of the population, they make up only 15.7% of Fortune 500 boards of directors, less than 10% of California tech company boards, and 9.1% of Silicon Valley boards.” Through the Campaigns website (www.faceitcampaign.com), petition, YouTube video, and Facebook page, FACEBOOK is asked to go public with a board that reflects its user base and the company’s mission. They powerfully state that “without women on its board, Facebook disconnects itself from its public and forsakes its social aspirations.” Simply put – ‘Seven white men? That’s ridiculous!'”

I throw my support behind this initiative and hope you will to. A heartfelt thank you to the campaign organizers who took it upon themselves to say as users of FACEBOOK, this is not OK, and we are going to try to do something to change it.